Another photo from our recent trip to the UK this week. We were staying on the coast, so of course a walk along the beach was a must.

The Lincolnshire coast is subject to erosion, and for many years the sea was kept a bay by concrete sea walls. The latest thinking is that sand does a much better job of absorbing the force of the waves, so the level of sand on the beach has been artificially raised.

Luckily, as I’m a compulsive beach-comber, there are still plenty of shells and sea-polished pebbles to be found. I love these lines of Ted Hughes (yes, him again), which are a reminder that the sea shells we find on the beach originate from somewhere much more mysterious and alien.